Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24 1982) is a Grammy Award-winning American pop singer and actress. Clarkson made her debut under RCA Records after she won the highly-publicized first season of the television series American Idol in 2002. She was originally marketed as a pop musician with her debut album Thankful (2003), which yielded her first and only U.S. number-one single. As a result of her contract with American Idol, Clarkson made a foray into film with the release of From Justin to Kelly (2003) with runner-up Justin Guarini.

Clarkson was born in Fort Worth, Texas on April 24 1982, and grew up in the small town of Burleson, Texas. She is the third and youngest child of Jeanne Ann Rose, a first grade English teacher of Greek and Scottish descent, and Stephen Michael Clarkson, a former engineer of Welsh extraction. Clarkson's siblings include her brother Jason, and her sister Alyssa. When Clarkson was six years old, her parents split up after seventeen years of marriage; her brother went to live with her father, her sister went to live with an aunt, and Clarkson remained with her mother. Following the separation, Clarkson...